Self Assessment: Throughout this course I was able to look at the many components of a leadership role on a campus or even in a district. When I first started this journey I was only thinking about the technology integrations but having taken this course and all that courses that deal with leadership has changed my thinking. Learning about all the data that goes into creating a successful campus and how to break it down into something that is understandable was beneficial. Collecting student assessment data and other information related to the management and operations of a school is an essential component of school improvement (Williamson & Redish, 2009). I now have a better understanding when we discuss AYP standards, S.M.A.R.T goals, and what and who the site based decision making committee consists of. Continuous campus improvement is imperative for continuous campus growth. In the assignments for EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability, we analyzed data, found a need and made a plan to remedy our needs. We made an action plan by using the AEIS data to target our needs for our campus. We included goals, objectives and target audiences (which were our students). We included strategies, the people in charge of implementation, timelines, costs, and formative evaluation plans. Our budget was $10,000 per campus. During the plan, I chose to increase TAKS scores in 4th and 5th grade so that my campus would be recognized by 2010. The activities planned for this project was to incorporate tutorials and more intervention time for students. We were also going to include workshops for parents and more professional development opportunities for staff and faculty. Another experience that we encountered in this course was the development of a professional development agenda. This agenda taught me about what goes into the professional development activities planned for us. I learned that professional development meetings should have introductions, icebreakers, be interactive, and have hands on learning opportunities. They should give time for adult learners to share what they have learned through the meeting. This assignment also made sure to make us aware of how important follow ups are for the professional development activities. It is important to know what is working for teachers and what is not working. During the Mining for Data assignment, we searched through the AYP data which gave me insight to our campus strengths and weaknesses. For the overall rating, our school was acceptable. Most scores were right where they should have been. I found that our scores were acceptable and that the struggling subgroups were African Americans and Economically Disadvantaged. We developed a goal and a vision for our school. My vision statement ended up stating: My vision is to create a school, with a safe learning environment, that will guide and allow all students the opportunity for success. While mining for data, I also found some of our campus weaknesses. I found that our 3rd grade in 2008 was barely acceptable. I found that our 5th grade reading scores were unacceptable. My target audience and goal was set for our African American students. They seemed to be low in many content areas. My ideas for addressing the needs of these students and teachers included articles for teachers to read, websites to visit and ideas for teachers to strengthen vocabulary of the students. This would give teachers resources, strategies and activities to assist them teaching skills. Students and teachers would both benefit immensely from these activities.
Learn as a Learner For this course it was a little difficult to complete some assignments in a timely manner because of trying to schedule a time to interview or get a reply to an email. Once I was able to get all my information I found it fairly easy to complete all assignments. I found myself intrigued when looking at all the numbers and data. Being able to actually see where our district numbers come from and how they are broken down was very insightful for me. It made me want to research more on why our African American students score so low. It also helped me understand the frustration that administrators go through when trying to find ways to help our students succeed. Another benefit was creating the plan to target the needs of students. This gave me more insight to the planning of staff development.
Lifelong Learning Skills:
Based on what I learned in this course about continuous campus improvement, it will be important for me to ensure that the teachers I train are aware of the many key items that are looked at when making a big decision for a campus. After reflecting on my action plan and knowing the direction that my campus is going I will use what I have learned throughout this course to help me in the next step. I know that the campus improvement cycle is continuous and forever changing so that will guide me in making the informative decisions about my campus and its needs. Knowing that my campus is one step closer to becoming Exemplary I will keep the same drive, momentum and expectations on my campus; this includes faculty, staff and students. I will visit with each staff member individually and gather their input about our progress on the path to success. We will then revisit the action plan and make an informed decision on our next step in the improvement process. We will desegregate our data, discuss strengths and weaknesses and create a new action plan that will move us one step closer to becoming Exemplary. I found these activities have prepared me for analyzing data. You can find out a lot from test scores. Test scores don’t lie. AYP data is anything but simple; however a lot of meaning comes from all those numbers!
Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Self Assessment:
Throughout this course I was able to look at the many components of a leadership role on a campus or even in a district. When I first started this journey I was only thinking about the technology integrations but having taken this course and all that courses that deal with leadership has changed my thinking. Learning about all the data that goes into creating a successful campus and how to break it down into something that is understandable was beneficial. Collecting student assessment data and other information related to the management and operations of a school is an essential component of school improvement (Williamson & Redish, 2009). I now have a better understanding when we discuss AYP standards, S.M.A.R.T goals, and what and who the site based decision making committee consists of.
Continuous campus improvement is imperative for continuous campus growth. In the assignments for EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability, we analyzed data, found a need and made a plan to remedy our needs. We made an action plan by using the AEIS data to target our needs for our campus. We included goals, objectives and target audiences (which were our students). We included strategies, the people in charge of implementation, timelines, costs, and formative evaluation plans. Our budget was $10,000 per campus. During the plan, I chose to increase TAKS scores in 4th and 5th grade so that my campus would be recognized by 2010. The activities planned for this project was to incorporate tutorials and more intervention time for students. We were also going to include workshops for parents and more professional development opportunities for staff and faculty. Another experience that we encountered in this course was the development of a professional development agenda. This agenda taught me about what goes into the professional development activities planned for us. I learned that professional development meetings should have introductions, icebreakers, be interactive, and have hands on learning opportunities. They should give time for adult learners to share what they have learned through the meeting. This assignment also made sure to make us aware of how important follow ups are for the professional development activities. It is important to know what is working for teachers and what is not working. During the Mining for Data assignment, we searched through the AYP data which gave me insight to our campus strengths and weaknesses. For the overall rating, our school was acceptable. Most scores were right where they should have been. I found that our scores were acceptable and that the struggling subgroups were African Americans and Economically Disadvantaged. We developed a goal and a vision for our school. My vision statement ended up stating: My vision is to create a school, with a safe learning environment, that will guide and allow all students the opportunity for success. While mining for data, I also found some of our campus weaknesses. I found that our 3rd grade in 2008 was barely acceptable. I found that our 5th grade reading scores were unacceptable. My target audience and goal was set for our African American students. They seemed to be low in many content areas. My ideas for addressing the needs of these students and teachers included articles for teachers to read, websites to visit and ideas for teachers to strengthen vocabulary of the students. This would give teachers resources, strategies and activities to assist them teaching skills. Students and teachers would both benefit immensely from these activities.
Learn as a Learner
For this course it was a little difficult to complete some assignments in a timely manner because of trying to schedule a time to interview or get a reply to an email. Once I was able to get all my information I found it fairly easy to complete all assignments. I found myself intrigued when looking at all the numbers and data. Being able to actually see where our district numbers come from and how they are broken down was very insightful for me. It made me want to research more on why our African American students score so low. It also helped me understand the frustration that administrators go through when trying to find ways to help our students succeed. Another benefit was creating the plan to target the needs of students. This gave me more insight to the planning of staff development.
Lifelong Learning Skills:
Based on what I learned in this course about continuous campus improvement, it will be important for me to ensure that the teachers I train are aware of the many key items that are looked at when making a big decision for a campus. After reflecting on my action plan and knowing the direction that my campus is going I will use what I have learned throughout this course to help me in the next step. I know that the campus improvement cycle is continuous and forever changing so that will guide me in making the informative decisions about my campus and its needs. Knowing that my campus is one step closer to becoming Exemplary I will keep the same drive, momentum and expectations on my campus; this includes faculty, staff and students. I will visit with each staff member individually and gather their input about our progress on the path to success. We will then revisit the action plan and make an informed decision on our next step in the improvement process. We will desegregate our data, discuss strengths and weaknesses and create a new action plan that will move us one step closer to becoming Exemplary. I found these activities have prepared me for analyzing data. You can find out a lot from test scores. Test scores don’t lie. AYP data is anything but simple; however a lot of meaning comes from all those numbers!
References:
Creating a Vision. Retrieved March 16, 2010, from Quality Learning Web site: **//http://www.leading-learning.co.nz/creating-vision.html//**
Texas Education Agency. Retrieved March 16, 2010, from AYP Indicators Web site: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/ayp/2007/index.html
Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.